Monday, 8 April 2013

river of smoke [amitav ghosh]

River of Smoke is a curious book. At once vast, full of
fascinating detail, engaging; but at the same time the storytelling is flawed
and the book’s structure means it sags somewhat as it homes in on the finishing
line.

In my (perhaps) former job, a script was defined by
character, narrative, (dialogue) and ‘world’. The last being the most relevant
here and frequently the hardest for a scriptwriter to master. A novelist has
more scope to conjure an unknown world, and Ghosh takes full advantage. He
appears to know mid c19th Canton like the back of his hand. His
prose leads us through the alleyways, across the Maidan, weaving in and out of
the 13 factories. It’s a world as brilliantly realised as Dickens’ London and
the depth and breath of the author’s scholarship is never in doubt.

However, his fascination with the intricacies of Canton’s
geo-political structure is at the expense of his plot. Ghosh treats his
characters with the irreverence of a historian, rather than the reverence of a
novelist. Paulette and Penrose, two of the principle characters in the book’s
opening section are rudely removed from the plot, left to dawdle about in Hong
Kong, offstage. Similarly, Bahram’s son, perhaps the most fascinating character
in the book, a true product of Canton’s miscegenation, is introduced and then
expunged. There are other figures who flicker into life only to fade out before
they are allowed to catch fire. Instead, the author’s focus turns to the
historical detail of the lead-up to the opium wars and the actions of the
British and US merchants as they strive to resist the Chinese emperor’s will.
Whilst Modi’s fate remains of interest, the novel increasingly feels as though
it’s marking time before it can knit up its plot, with the day-by-day account of
the last days of Canton’s foreign enclave overstated.

Having said which, River of Smoke is still an absorbing
read. Ghosh displays an authoritative, over-arching take on the way the modern
world has been shaped. Furthermore, he does the European the grand favour of
removing their continent from the epicentre, shifting history’s focus further
Eastwards, revealing the centuries-old mercantile structures that Europe’s
military might took advantage of. Furthermore, River of Smoke contains a
vigorous commentary on the nature of the drugs trade. It’s a strong critique of
European double standards, one with echoes of today’s world, proving there’s
little new under the rising sun.

+++

[Some of the characters named above, I realise after a
cursory glance at Wikipedia, feature in the first part of the trilogy, Sea of
Poppies. Which might mean that I am being unjust in my criticism. Nevertheless,
it still feels to me as though the book lacks balance as a result of the way
the author manipulates his characters.]